Collaboration

Recent focus has been on collaboration with another amazing week at UAP, working across both the Mentorship Residency and the Alice at Edward project. With projects of this scale which involve more than one person to deliver, there is collaboration… sometimes a little and sometimes a lot.

Even through I come to both projects with my ideas, research, models, drawings and material samples, the serious work begins when conveying all this to someone else, someone who can take it to the next level and assist in having the work realized. It’s a reminder that clear communication of your ideas is imperative, especially when the information will need to be passed on to a third party and then a forth etc. It’s important to be able to listen and assess if you are being clear and if not what further information you need to provide, be it verbal or illustrative. Collaboration relies heavily on listening and understanding what the other party/ies are bringing to the table and where you fit into the picture.

Working collaboratively with UAP is fantastic. My lead designers for both projects are really clear, giving solid direction for each milestone. Last week we worked together to create a presentation for the client of the final schematic design for the Mentorship Residency artwork. Complete with beautiful 3D renders and scaled drawings of the artwork in situ, we presented further detail and conceptual rationale for the work, much to the client’s excitement! It’s great to work with people who are really committed and excited about the project and its outcome!

I’ve also had a couple of meetings with my lead designer for the Alice at Edward project and the liaising client to workshop the direction of our various contributions. This project is interesting in that three designers are all addressing a specific part of the site, while working to create an overall space that is harmonious. All our work needs to deliver on the connections with the Brisbane City Botanic Gardens’ history, the actual site, the relationship between each of our work and the overall refurbishment of the space.

This is such a rich experience of collaboration… one that has opened up intimate levels of discussion about our work and seen an impressive evolution of ideas!

When thinking about collaboration, the image of hands shaking came to mind. On a quick Google Images search, I found this...